2008-04-26
esann conference in belgium
From Wednesday to Friday I attended the European Symposium on Artificial Neural Networks (ESANN) in Bruges (Belgium). It was quite a cosy conference: not too many participants, but nice ones. Bruges is also nice. Looks a bit like Venice, but nicer (they have trees and parks in Bruges). I went to Bruges by Eurostar: London-Brussels in less than 2 hours. And after that an IC to Bruges. I like the Eurostar, although the interior looks a bit like old-fashioned German ICs. Anyway, good stuff.
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5 comments:
Wait a sec. It looks like Venice, but NICER? Can you actually prove that?
Well, it has parks, trees and other green stuff. Where can you find this in Venice?!
You mean it has Piazza San Marco, Canal Grande, Gondolas, Bridge of Sighs, palaces, piazzas, churches, bridges, canals, islands AND parks, trees and other stuff?
yes, almost. it has a grand channel, but it doesn't stink ;-). there are also very old buildings, a brewery (i think there is none in venice?), and trees, parks ...
I've been to Bruges a few times and even more times to Venice. Both great places but if I were to choose a place to visit between the two, I think there is no doubt about Venice. Moreover:
1) There is a big park just outside Venice (parco San Giuliano). Run the Venice marathon and when you are there you'll see it will never finish...
2) If you compare
http://tinyurl.com/683a49
and
http://tinyurl.com/5gptuv
you can probably see why there are no big parks in the island of Venice. But there are trees, of course not in piazza san marco, but if you walk around you'll find trees and gardens. If you've been there for the 1-day tourist trip then you probably didn't see them (even if you do a 1 day tour of London you don't see parks). Again, run the Venice marathon and the finish line is here:
http://tinyurl.com/5dxtn2
very nice little park to enjoy a Pedavena beer or a glass of Chardonnay from Veneto.
3) the number of historical places to see in Venice is probably two orders of magnitude greater than Bruges.
4) there is probably no brewery in venice itself, but see above for the old buildings. Then, you are in Veneto, hire a bike and cycle around the Venice area to find excellent wine (cabernet franc is my favourite from the region).
5) Yes sometimes the water stinks. But by definition it's a lagoon, not a river, the water doesn't flow as fast, so if you go there in summer...
Having said that, if I want a romantic weekend close to London I'd take the Eurostar and go to Bruges. But this is just because I know Venice very well (I did my military service in Udine, not far from there, and I used to spend all weekends in Venice).
If you had a bad impression of Venice it's probably because you had a Japanese-tourist-style experience of it. It's easy in Bruges to be relaxed and enjoy the city, while in Venice it's easy to be overwhelmed by the crowds, Japanese, pigeons, etc., especially if you don't know the "quiet" spots.
Go back and try again, you'll enjoy it.
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